Recording - May 2018 - 42

ADAM
Audio T7V

Active Monitor
ADAM's most affordable nearfield
offers great sound for any budget
REVIEW BY MIKE METLAY

T

he new T Series from ADAM Audio is a foray into
more affordable monitors than the firm's usual highend fare. The motto behind the T Series monitors appears to be "even better sound for even less money," and as
a longtime fan of ADAM speakers, I was very curious to hear
them for myself.
Other companies have made inexpensive speakers with
folded-ribbon tweeters, but this is the first time the ADAM name
has been placed on a speaker at what basically amounts to
an entry-level price point. There are two T Series monitors in
the line right now-we'll discuss the T5V in a future issue, but
for now, let's dive into the T7V.

Why would you fold a ribbon?

ADAM Audio didn't invent the technology of folded-ribbon
tweeters, but it can claim credit for firmly establishing this tweeter
design in the pro audio world. ADAM's nomenclature for tweeters
of this type is the Accelerated Ribbon Tweeter (ART), and the T7V
sports the latest-generation U-ART high-frequency driver.
The folded-ribbon tweeter, originally named the Air Motion
Transformer, was invented in the 1970s by Dr. Oskar Heil.
In this design, electricity is converted into sound by a long,
gently pleated flat ribbon of ultra-thin plastic suspended in a
magnetic field. This folded ribbon expands and contracts
rather like human vocal cords or the bellows of an accordion.
(Note that this is a different operating principle than that
found in "true" ribbon tweeters used in some other monitors.)
Why make a tweeter in this shape? This particular way of
moving air is enormously efficient; the vibrating pleats force
air out of the tweeter at very high velocity, and the ribbon's
pleats have the equivalent area of a much larger conventional
driver. Also, because only very tiny movements are needed
to make the tweeter work and the ribbon itself is vanishingly
light, transient response is blindingly fast... and that means
better treble response and clearer articulation.
42

RECORDING May 2018

Out of the crate

The T7V is a 2-way nearfield monitor that includes a 7" polypropylene woofer and a U-ART folded-ribbon tweeter, this one
with four square inches of material that provides the equivalent
area of a much larger conventional tweeter. The drivers are
fitted with dual Class D amplifiers, 20W RMS for the tweeter
and 50W RMS for the woofer, and mounted in a light but
fairly nonresonant cabinet with a large rear-firing bass reflex
port and angled front fascia to minimize diffraction effects. The
DSP-controlled crossover's frequency is set at 2.6 kHz.
At first glance, the amps might seem to be somewhat underpowered; there are monitors out there with much larger amps in
the same cabinet size. But in practice, the amps can deliver over
130W peak power, and ADAM claims that they'll easily top 110
dB SPL at one meter without appreciable breakup. I ran them at 95
to 100 dB SPL for short periods (that's way above my comfortable
listening level) and they put out plenty of solid audio with ease.
One notable innovation on the T Series is that the U-ART
tweeter is now placed within a waveguide. This isn't the first
such addition to an ADAM speaker; the HPS waveguide was
first featured on the company's multi-kilobuck flagship S Series
monitors. Now, it's made a jump down the line past the
well-established A Series of mid-level pro monitors to become
a mark of distinction on the T Series. Like any waveguide, this
one is designed to control treble dispersion in a uniform and
predictable way, ideally providing the listener with a wider
sweet spot for monitoring.



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - May 2018

Contents
Recording - May 2018 - Intro
Recording - May 2018 - Cover1
Recording - May 2018 - Cover2
Recording - May 2018 - 1
Recording - May 2018 - 2
Recording - May 2018 - 3
Recording - May 2018 - 4
Recording - May 2018 - 5
Recording - May 2018 - Contents
Recording - May 2018 - 7
Recording - May 2018 - 8
Recording - May 2018 - 9
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Recording - May 2018 - Cover3
Recording - May 2018 - Cover4
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